Amateur Killer

"Please, I beg you — spare me! I had no choice, I swear, my..." Pinned beneath the Giant Shadow Nail, Gray Four would have dropped to his knees before Mo Fan if he could, pleading for his life.

Four elements. *Actually four elements.* This target wielded magic of four separate elements! The Priest had told them the target was naturally Dual Elements.

By normal logic, if someone awakened again at the Intermediate level, they might reach three elements at most. But four...

Was there any trust left between human beings anymore?

Mo Fan had no interest in wasting words on vermin. He glanced at the Gloom Wolf Beast, its muzzle still slicked with blood and flesh, and said evenly, "Your late-night snack."

The Gloom Wolf Beast hadn't quite finished eating. It also knew that the Black Church cultist pinned by the Giant Shadow Nail couldn't move a muscle. It had just started picking its teeth when it realized it would only have to clean them again in a moment — so it decided to tear him open first and take its time.

Black-Beast Demons smelled absolutely foul and were nearly impossible to stomach. These Black Church members, though, had quite a pleasant taste.

**"AAAAAAAAAAAAA—"**

The last cultist's anguished screams tore through the factory. By then, Mo Fan had already walked out and was heading toward Zhang Lulu, who lay bleeding on the ground outside.

Mo Fan recognized her — she was Xu Zhaoting's girlfriend from university. Right now, though, she had lost consciousness. He had been hoping she could help him keep his four elements a secret, but she had clearly passed out before he'd even used the Fire Element.

Luckily, he always kept some hemostatic powder on him. It couldn't heal wounds, but it could at least keep her alive.

He stopped the bleeding first, then carried Zhang Lulu onto the back of the Gloom Wolf Beast, which had just polished off its meal.

"Let's head back," he told the Beast. It spat out a bone with satisfaction and began loping toward the city center with both of them on its back.

There was a ban on Summoned Beasts in the city center, so once they reached the denser part of town, Mo Fan had to hail a cab. At least Zhang Lulu had stabilized — if they had delayed any longer, she would have bled out. The fluid on a Black-Beast Demon's claws prevented blood from clotting.

He brought her to the nearest hospital. Only after paying a hefty sum did a Healing Element Mage appear to treat her.

Zhang Lulu had lost far too much blood and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. Mo Fan knew hospitals were no less safe than schools. He left a contact number and returned to his own lodgings.

"Mu Jie, where do you think that Shadow Demon-Beast is hiding? We still have nothing — it's driving me crazy." Ai Tutu's voice was carrying through the door before Mo Fan had even turned the handle.

He stepped inside. Preoccupied as he was, he didn't bother exchanging pleasantries with either of them and went straight upstairs, his mind heavy.

Their conversation died away. Only after Mo Fan reached the second floor and shut his door did the two women exchange a glance.

"He didn't say a single word — that's completely unlike him. And this time he didn't even try to sneak a peek at Mu Jie's legs..." Ai Tutu muttered.

"What are you going on about?!" Mu Nujiao felt her face heat up. Why did this girl have absolutely no filter?

"Did you notice all those brownish stains on him? That looks like dried blood," Ai Tutu said.

Mu Nujiao said nothing. Going by what she'd just seen, he had clearly been in a fight — the bloodstains were impossible to miss.

Where had he been? Why was he drenched in so much blood?

"You don't think this big bad demon's hobby is actually *killing people*? That blood obviously isn't his," Ai Tutu said.

Mu Nujiao didn't speculate. She fell into quiet, pensive thought.

A long, narrow alley lay swallowed in shadow. A few lamps cast pale, cold light that barely reached a few meters in any direction.

Old wooden doors were set into the gray stone walls, weathered and worn. Without warning, one of them swung slowly open, and a pack of reeking creatures moving on all fours scrambled inside — apparently hauling a living person with them.

A moment later, a man in a gray cloak stepped through as well. Before entering, he deliberately scanned the alley in both directions to make sure no one had followed.

Inside lay an old courtyard. A few trees stood bare, stripped of every last leaf.

The yard was a shambles, clearly untended for years. At the foot of the steps leading up to the ancient manor, a figure wearing a half-mask stood with something like a whip in hand, lashing several Black-Beast Demons that had refused to obey. Their hides were already split raw and weeping.

"My lord Priest, our plan was derailed by that boy," Gray One reported.

"Xu Zhaoting." The half-masked figure fixed his gaze on the battered, disheveled captive. The unscarred half of his face curled into a cold, cruel smile.

Xu Zhaoting lifted his head weakly, unable to place this strange figure at first.

Then he looked more carefully — and fury ignited behind his eyes.

"So it's *you*!!" he spat.

Bo City wasn't large. Among the outstanding talents of their generation, people naturally knew each other. Yu'ang knew Xu Zhaoting, and Xu Zhaoting knew Yu'ang all too well.

What he could never have imagined was that Yu'ang — Mu Zhuoyun's adopted heir, groomed as his successor — was a member of the Black Church. That made him one of the masterminds behind Bo City's catastrophe.

"Since we're old acquaintances, I'll make sure to give you special treatment," Yu'ang said with a smile.

"You half-faced freak — rot in hell!" Xu Zhaoting snarled.

Yu'ang's smile vanished in an instant. A cold darkness settled over his entire bearing.

Ever since half his face had been destroyed, the one thing Yu'ang could never endure was hearing anyone mention it. He had even banned mirrors from every space he frequented.

"I told you — special treatment. No one who crosses the Black Church ever comes out ahead," he said, his voice like ice.

"My lord Priest..." Gray One suddenly went pale, dropping his voice. "Gray Four, Three, Two, One — it seems they're all dead."

"The Tribunal's people?!" Yu'ang spun around at once.

"It was the target who arrived afterward. He also rescued the girl who was with Xu Zhaoting," Gray One replied.

The tension drained from Xu Zhaoting the moment he heard this. *Zhang Lulu is safe.* He had been genuinely terrified she'd fallen into the hands of these madmen.

Yu'ang's whip cracked across Xu Zhaoting's face without warning. Losing four operatives in a single night had driven him to the edge of his rage.

"You're relieved that the girl is still breathing, aren't you?!" Yu'ang stepped close and brought the whip down again — and again — merciless. "I'll make sure both of you live long enough to regret every day you're still in this world!!" he snarled.

With that, he seized Xu Zhaoting — now drenched in blood — and dragged him into the manor.

Gray One watched Yu'ang haul yet another living person inside and felt a tremor pass through him.

Under the shadow of the Black Church, those who had offended it or failed it often found that living was truly a fate worse than death — especially when they ended up in the hands of this Priest, whose mind grew more and more warped with each passing day.